VANCOUVER (Coast Salish Territories) – In a 40 page complaint filed this morning, nine social service agencies from across the province have asked the Ombudsperson of BC to launch a systemic investigation into service reductions at the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation that shut out many eligible people from accessing income assistance. The complaint, filed by the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC), a law office in Vancouver, alleges that the government has created insurmountable barriers that deprive people of critical income support to which they are legally entitled.

The alleged barriers include office closures and significant reductions in office hours, making it difficult for people to speak to Ministry staff in person, channelling calls to under-resourced centralized call centres that serve the whole province and have lengthy wait times, and the creation of a complicated, 90-screen online application process that many vulnerable people have difficulty navigating. The complaint also points out that most income assistance recipients do not have phones or internet access, and many are not computer literate, so the Ministry’s changes do not make sense for the users of its services.

“The government claims that it has expanded access to income assistance services, when it has done just the opposite,” said Lobat Sadrehashemi, staff lawyer at the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC). “Requiring people to use a difficult online form and a backlogged call centre while slashing in-person services has made accessing help a nightmare for many vulnerable people. When you put all these changes together, the result is that people are shut out of services that they have a legal right to access.”

The complaint was necessary, the groups said, because the government has failed to respond to numerous direct complaints about the barriers to accessing services.

“We have tried to get the government’s attention, but they haven’t taken our concerns seriously,” said Stephen Portman, of Together Against Poverty Society. “If people can’t access these basic supports, we know that they will end up on the street. That’s why we have no choice but to ask for an independent investigation of the Ministry’s practices. How can the government fix the problem when it claims that it has actually made things better?”

The complaint alleges that since all calls to the Ministry have been centralized in provincial call centres, it has become impossible for many people to contact the Ministry for help. According to the government, average wait times on the phone have increased to more than half an hour.

Amber Prince, an advocate at Atira Women’s Resource Society said: “Many women with whom I work have to wait at least 45 minutes just to talk to somebody. And then many of them are told there is a time limit for their call, and if the call goes over, they are disconnected and have to call back all over again, this time with a different Ministry staff person. Nobody should have to accept this kind of treatment by their government.”

In 2005, BCPIAC filed an Ombudsperson complaint about a range of Ministry practices that limited access to welfare services. After a thorough investigation, the Ombudsperson found that the government had created unfair barriers to access and made 25 recommendations to improve “fairness and accountability” in income assistance. While a recent update from the Ombudsperson reports that the Ministry has made some progress on those recommendations, BCPIAC’s new complaint alleges that the government’s ”technological enhancements” have created new, unfair obstacles.

VANCOUVER -- A Downtown Eastside resident with osteoarthritis and
chronic back pain had to wait nearly three months for the provincial
government to respond to his application for disability assistance.
“They told me it would take 1½ months,” Andrew Sarna said during an interview in the office of his MLA, the NDP’s Jenny Kwan.

She
has had several constituents in recent months complain about “severe
delays” in the handling of their applications by the Ministry for Social
Development and Social Innovation. Kwan blames a “backlog” in the
system.

“We are seeing this quite a lot, where people’s
applications are being delayed. The question isn’t whether they are even
eligible (for benefits), but whether they can get their applications
processed,” said Kwan. “I’ve never seen this level of delay in my 19
years (as MLA), I can honestly say that.”

In a statement,
assistant deputy minister David Galbraith said the average waiting time
for an application like Sarna’s is 13 business days, but that can vary
depending on the time it takes to receive documentation and complete an
employability screen. He would not comment directly on Sarna’s case,
citing privacy rules.

Social Development Minister
Michelle Stilwell said, in response to the complaint, that her ministry
looks for ways to improve its services and ensure people are treated
fairly. But she insisted the system is designed to serve clients as
efficiently as possible and that “urgent” cases requiring food and
shelter are addressed in one business day.

While Sarna’s case
might not be urgent, he said this week he was shocked he had received no
government response to the application he filed on Feb. 10. He said he
phoned often to check on the status of application, the last time on May
5.

After The Sun made inquiries about the file on Tuesday, Kwan
contacted the ministry again and was told Sarna’s application had been
approved May 7. Kwan could not locate her constituent, who has no phone
and doesn’t use computers, at his Downtown Eastside room Wednesday to
pass along the good news.
“Perhaps the letter is lost in the mail,
not sure. I don’t believe Mr. Sarna knows this,” she said. “The day you
contacted (the ministry) is the first we heard that Mr. Sarna has been
approved.”

Sarna, 62, made and sold silver jewelry, but his
business fell on hard times two years ago, and he went on income
assistance. He moved into a Downtown Eastside hotel room, which rents
for $375, leaving $235 from his monthly welfare cheque for food and
other essentials.

His doctor prescribed him pain medication for
his back that costs $40, which he cannot afford. As a result, he finds
it difficult to walk or sit for longer than 30 minutes, says the
disability form filled out by his doctor.

He has suffered from the arthritis and back pain for more than 30
years, but both are worsening with age, he added. He has serious
problems with his prostate, which his doctor predicts will also
deteriorate.

Sarna applied for persons with persistent multiple
barriers disability, a temporary support for those who struggle to work
because of health ailments. (Last year he applied for permanent
disability but was rejected.)
The temporary disability gives him,
starting June 1, an extra $80 monthly, and allows him access to $210 a
month for medical expenses. In the application, Sarna’s doctor indicated
his patient would benefit from additional medicine and seeing a
physiotherapist.

“If I have even those $80, I would buy proper
food. I wouldn’t have any pain because if my pain increased I would have
medicine,” he said on Tuesday.

The complaint to the ombudsmen
said many welfare clients struggle to communicate with the ministry
because more and more services are online or over the phone, while many
Social Development offices have closed or reduced hours.

But
Stilwell said there is “a growing interest” in services over the phone
and online, which free up front line staff to give extra assistance to
those in need.

Among other constituent files in Kwan’s office is a
man who lost his job, and struggled to support his wife and child. He
applied for income assistance and was given a $40 food voucher. Three
weeks later, the family was in a “crisis” because they were still
waiting for their welfare application to be approved, she said. The
family is now collecting income assistance.

“In my cynical
moments, I think, ‘Are these applications not getting processed in a
timely fashion?’ There is a financial implication in that the government
doesn’t have to pay out,” Kwan said.

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A Valley
woman with multiple sclerosis is concerned that she's having to jump through
extra hoops to get assistance from the Duncan office of the Ministry of Social
Development and Social Innovation.

Suzanne
Cusson has been dealing with MS for decades but had been managing on her own,
even operating her own business, until a few years back, when she found herself
forced to apply for benefits in 2012.

Unexpected
roadbl o cks appeared, she said.

"I
owned a 2010 travel trailer and they said I had to get rid of everything before
they'd even consider me for benefits," she said.

She sold
her trailer and finally started regular assistance in November 2012 but was not
allowed to go onto disability benefits.

Everything
had been going smoothly until December 2014, a time that should have been happy
for her.

"I
gave birth on Dec. 5, 2014. But on Dec. 30 I received a letter stating I needed
to bring in all my work information, my T4s, my income information, my bank account
dating back six months. So I got as much as I could together. To make a long
story short, I was denied benefits in January, and I've been fighting this. I
have MS, I can't go to work. I have a newborn. What am I supposed to do?"
she asked.

"I
was on assistance. But they closed my file in March. I never believed they
would cut me off, because I have MS and I have a newborn. But, they cut me off
so I asked for a reconsideration."

She
finally got an application package in the mail and then had to wait three weeks
to see an advocate but finally she got someone to take a second look.

"They
finally took my reconsideration request, they looked at it and, on May 14, they
said I should never have been deemed ineligible and that my case needed to be
re-opened.

"I
went over there this morning and [the acting supervisor] said no, that because
I re-applied I had to wait for the intake worker to call me. I should never
have been deemed ineligible to start with. My file should have been re-opened
and I should have been issued cheques for March, April and May."

Cusson
said she was concerned because the acting supervisor "was the original guy
who told me 'no' to disability because I owned too much. I don't own anything
now. It seems personal with him. I don't understand why. I had to beg, borrow
and almost steal to get money to pay my bills. But now he's saying he doesn't
have to go with what the reconsideration branch says. I have to go with an
application process again. That will take six to eight weeks," she said.

The
reconsideration branch were trying to short circuit an overly long process but
their

effort
failed, she said.

"He
could have helped me right now. They could have reopened my file, given me my
assistance for March, April and May today. I don't think he should be the one
who overrides the reconsideration branch, what his peer did. How could he say
no?" Now, Cusson is unsure what the future holds.

"If
I have start again, I will. But what do I do about the months I had to borrow
money? I'm already behind."

Right
now, the only money she has coming in is from her child tax credit, she said.

Cusson
has two older children. She receives $75 each in child support for them and
then there's her child tax benefit.

"My
oldest daughter is 18. My child tax benefit is $640 so I've been living on $790
for the past three months."

The rent
of a trailer, Hydro costs and other expenses come to more than that every
month, she said.

"If
I was a drug-dealing prostitute with a drug or alcohol problem, they'd be
helping me but because I was a business owner they don't understand it,"
Cusson said.

"They
don't know that because I have MS it takes me 10 times longer to do a simple
thing. I was diagnosed when I was 21 years old but they never told me what to
expect. The fact that I'm still walking is incredible," she said.

According
to the Ministry of Social Development's communications department, "due to
privacy considerations, information on specific cases cannot be provided."

However,
the ministry's policy's also states that an individual must continue to meet
the eligibility requirements in order to remain on income assistance and,
"periodically, the ministry will conduct random checks, asking people to
submit documents such as bank statements or information on assets."

If an
individual is dissatisfied with an eligibility decision they can request
reconsideration.

The
policy says, "This is conducted by a ministry employee who was not
involved in the original decision."

Reconsideration
is "a new and final ministry decision on eligibility" but anyone not
satisfied with the results of a reconsideration, "may request an appeal by
submitting a Notice of Appeal form to the Employment and Assistance Appeal
Tribunal within seven business days of the receipt of the reconsideration decision,"
the policy says.

A
Valley woman with multiple sclerosis is concerned that she's having to
jump through extra hoops to get assistance from the Duncan office of the
Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation.
Suzanne Cusson has been dealing with MS for decades but had been
managing on her own, even operating her own business, until a few years
back, when she found herself forced to apply for benefits in 2012.
Unexpected roadbl o cks appeared, she said.
"I owned a 2010 travel trailer and they said I had to get rid of
everything before they'd even consider me for benefits," she said.
She sold her trailer and finally started regular assistance in November
2012 but was not allowed to go onto disability benefits.
Everything had been going smoothly until December 2014, a time that should have been happy for her.
"I gave birth on Dec. 5, 2014. But on Dec. 30 I received a letter
stating I needed to bring in all my work information, my T4s, my income
information, my bank account dating back six months. So I got as much as
I could together. To make a long story short, I was denied benefits in
January, and I've been fighting this. I have MS, I can't go to work. I
have a newborn. What am I supposed to do?" she asked.
"I was on assistance. But they closed my file in March. I never
believed they would cut me off, because I have MS and I have a newborn.
But, they cut me off so I asked for a reconsideration."
She finally got an application package in the mail and then had to wait
three weeks to see an advocate but finally she got someone to take a
second look.
"They finally took my reconsideration request, they looked at it and,
on May 14, they said I should never have been deemed ineligible and that
my case needed to be re-opened.
"I went over there this morning and [the acting supervisor] said no,
that because I re-applied I had to wait for the intake worker to call
me. I should never have been deemed ineligible to start with. My file
should have been re-opened and I should have been issued cheques for
March, April and May."
Cusson said she was concerned because the acting supervisor "was the
original guy who told me 'no' to disability because I owned too much. I
don't own anything now. It seems personal with him. I don't understand
why. I had to beg, borrow and almost steal to get money to pay my bills.
But now he's saying he doesn't have to go with what the reconsideration
branch says. I have to go with an application process again. That will
take six to eight weeks," she said.
The reconsideration branch were trying to short circuit an overly long process but their
effort failed, she said.
"He could have helped me right now. They could have reopened my file,
given me my assistance for March, April and May today. I don't think he
should be the one who overrides the reconsideration branch, what his
peer did. How could he say no?" Now, Cusson is unsure what the future
holds.
"If I have start again, I will. But what do I do about the months I had to borrow money? I'm already behind."
Right now, the only money she has coming in is from her child tax credit, she said.
Cusson has two older children. She receives $75 each in child support for them and then there's her child tax benefit.
"My oldest daughter is 18. My child tax benefit is $640 so I've been living on $790 for the past three months."
The rent of a trailer, Hydro costs and other expenses come to more than that every month, she said.
"If I was a drug-dealing prostitute with a drug or alcohol problem,
they'd be helping me but because I was a business owner they don't
understand it," Cusson said.
"They don't know that because I have MS it takes me 10 times longer to
do a simple thing. I was diagnosed when I was 21 years old but they
never told me what to expect. The fact that I'm still walking is
incredible," she said.
According to the Ministry of Social Development's communications
department, "due to privacy considerations, information on specific
cases cannot be provided."
However, the ministry's policy's also states that an individual must
continue to meet the eligibility requirements in order to remain on
income assistance and, "periodically, the ministry will conduct random
checks, asking people to submit documents such as bank statements or
information on assets."
If an individual is dissatisfied with an eligibility decision they can request reconsideration.
The policy says, "This is conducted by a ministry employee who was not involved in the original decision."
Reconsideration is "a new and final ministry decision on eligibility"
but anyone not satisfied with the results of a reconsideration, "may
request an appeal by submitting a Notice of Appeal form to the
Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal within seven business days of
the receipt of the reconsideration decision," the policy says.